On this episode of The Road to French Lick, Ryan Ballengee and Brendan Sweeney look back at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Wichita Open, the two 59s shot and the 59-shooting winner, Myles Creighton. University of Illinois men’s head golf coach Mike Small comes by, and we talk to Jackson Buchanan, an Illini just getting going in his pro career.
Watch SEASON 2 of The Road to French Lick:
Episode 1: https://youtu.be/ve4JrpinpwM
Episode 2: https://youtu.be/nfjjIuESZQM
Episode 3: https://youtu.be/BhPgJF9WWZQ
Episode 4: https://youtu.be/-U08B2NfBAQ
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Episode 8: https://youtu.be/a0sG7IPCn_E
Episode 9: https://youtu.be/GjTdSfypbQM
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Watch SEASON 1 of The Road to French Lick:
Episode 1: https://youtu.be/i3HVE6sF_YQ
Episode 2: https://youtu.be/g-cpXXmWnR4
Episode 3: https://youtu.be/Ofli2Lwfvi4
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Episode 11: https://youtu.be/oyH-suXFFp8
Episode 12: https://youtu.be/vPBBiYt7IBc
Episode 13: https://youtu.be/-39IJTl-o4w
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we had two 59s last week on the corn ferry tour and one of those two players wound up winning in Witchah we’re on the road to French Lake [Music] [Music] [Music] hi everybody welcome once again to the road to French Lake show chronicling the Corin Fairy Tour i’m Ryan Belgi on this week’s episode we’ll catch up on the last event on the Cornferry Tour schedule the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Witchah Open we had a pair of 59s on the Cornferry Tour at Cresview Country Club in Witchah so we’ll talk about that we’re also joined by Jackson Buchanan recently turned pro just graduating from the University of Illinois as he plays at the MRS Championship out Springfield Illinois at Panther Creek we’re also joined by Mike Small who’s the head coach of the University of Illinois men’s golf program and talk about his longevity as well as his players three of them competing this week in Springfield Illinois in that event and then Brendon Sweeney will join me as well to wrap up everything happening on the Cornferry Tour but first we begin with a recap of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Witchah Open which was won by Canadian Miles Kraton who becomes yet another firsttime winner this year on the Cornferry Tour season we are yet to have a repeat champion more than halfway into the season and Miles Kraton becomes the rare player to shoot 59 or better on a major tour and wind up winning at the end of the week this is a typically rare achievement relatively speaking to the number of players who have broken 60 there have been now 45 such rounds in the major tours around the world and 15 of them on the cornfy tour we had two this week miles Kraton in the third round with a chip in at the last and then we had Adrien Dumont to kick things off on day one with 11 under 59 but once it came to championship Sunday 59s didn’t matter scoring conditions changed wind picked up and things got more difficult for the players looking for the win in the end Miles Kraton rallied on the back nine he shot 68 two under par in the final round to win by one shot on 17 under 263 over Ailio Gonzalez who also had himself a great week at the US Open he shot 66 on Sunday to follow up a 62 in the third round it left him a shot short in the end pearson Cudy who’s been having a great year on the Corin Fairy Tour wound up finishing in solo third place he was 15 under par and then Adrien Damonte Chesart one of the players who shot 59 this week he wound up in a tie for fifth place at 13 under par for the week so two under for the rest of the week after opening with 59 let’s hear from our winner of the Witchah Open Miles Kraton yeah I don’t even know um I can’t believe it just from where I came from and even today you know it felt like I was stuck in the mud kind of three back and then obviously 11 was so pivotal um and I it actually settled me down it still after 12 I was still you know feeling the nerves quite a bit and I started to settle down a little bit um for whatever reason kind of found something in my swing and and settled me down a little bit and hit good shots down the stretch and yeah the putt on 18 I’ve been working the last week really hard on keeping my head down um I’m tend to come up and out of putts and uh I said I’m not picking my head up until I hear something whether it’s a groan or a cheer so I think it lipped in i don’t I actually don’t even know but yeah just can’t believe it we mentioned there were two 59s this week on the corn ferry tour yes Miles Kraton the winner this week had one of them in the third round but Adrien Dumonte Chas opened the tournament with one 11 under 59 in the opening round including a bogey like Miles Kraton on the scorecard so let’s hear from Adrien Damonte Chesart after that 59 to open the Witchah Open yeah I mean uh I was off to a great start hit lots of really good shots um and I hit the drive very well today i mean when you hit it on those fairways especially on those two par fives that are not necessarily long but you need to really good T- shot to to give yourself a shorter uh approach shot just made it a little easier i mean I hit three three greens under regulation 3-2 putts you know that kind of help get the round going um and then yeah I think when I when I birdie hole was it hole three to go to I think seven under um that’s when I started thinking about the 59 I was like “Okay it’s a par 70 just let’s keep it going.” Uh and yeah play play really well down the stretch uh Mr shorty on seven but you know that’s what’s cool about golf you feel nervous even on four-footers when you’re 10 under right so I’m glad I bounced back and hit a really really good sixiron on 17 or I guess whole eight to set up an easy birdie was that just a lot with his win in the Witchah Open Miles Kraton moves up to 16th place in the Cornferry Tour standings putting him inside the top 20 of players who would earn PGA Tour cards for the 2026 season in those top 20 in the points list at the end of the Cornferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing and Finance at the French Lake Resort will have those spots for next year secured we now look at the top five in the standings and it’s pretty much unchanged except for one person number one on the list remains Johnny Kefir at 1,393 points sh Kim remains in second place at 1,31 points and Cleiota remains in third place at 1,289 points austin Smotherman remains in fourth place after winning the BMW charity program and gained some points and is at 1,141 points but our new fifth place player is Pearson Coney who’s at 920 points this week on the road to French Lake we hear from Jackson Buchanan the University of Illinois product is soon to be a household name in professional golf circles i have no doubt about that we spoke with him last year at this tournament out in Springfield Illinois where he was a sponsor exemption then and is again this year as he looks to get started soon on his professional golf career all right Jackson Buchanan welcome to uh the road to French Lake oh yeah uh sponsor exceptions this week at at uh at at in Springfield tell us how that came about um just funny story i was playing around with Max Harrenine one of our freshman now sophomore and got a call from Kate uh Peters and she let me know and I think we were playing a match and I ended up getting a little rattled and I think I blew it at the end but I was just so pumped about this it’s exciting to test your game against the best and you know you know somewhere I might be you know in a year you never know so it’s it’s pretty exciting how’s your experience been at at the University of Illinois and you’ve had you’re going into your senior year right oh yeah and you’ve played played some serious golf yeah it’s all it’s the best golf program in the country I think um it’s you know you learn so much from coach and and we’re all so close on the team it’s it’s something you get for 4 years and you really got to soak it in um but it just it’s super awesome i could get emotional talking about my boys i love them but um I’m just learning so much really every day so you you grinded out through the US Open qualifiers you made it down to Pinehurst that that was a pretty big ballpark pretty big venue pretty cool experience tell us about it uh it was awesome i the the Monday Wednesday Tuesday was or Monday Tuesday Wednesday was pretty sick getting out playing some practice rounds it’s crazy how many fans are on a practice round and you’re hitting T-shots are all surrounded there in a practice round but it was awesome i got out on Thursday played terrible on the front nine and was like “Okay this is miserable so let’s actually play some good golf.” Cuz I was out there just enjoying it i was like “Okay and now I have to play good golf.” So I played my last 27 holes one under so that that was solid missed the cup by one but just a super great experience best players in the world so see your game i I I played with uh in the tournament played with Thomas Dietri and Brian Campbell Illinois group so that was pretty cool um but practice round played with a few big names cam Davis he’s pretty good um played with Dunlap Sergeant few fun guys to hang out with right on what a great experience it must have been awesome awesome uh play well this week uh heading next week to John Deere john Deere yep another exemption i I got the call right after I qualified for the US Open so it’s kind of all happening at once i was like “Okay this is kind of crazy but it’s awesome it’s just just experience out here on the tour i’m I’m a college kid i’m I’m getting experience on the on the pro circuit so um really nothing better I could ask for.” The guy’s been pretty cool to you out here oh yeah absolutely so you know eating breakfast with the guys on tour at at the US Open you’re like “Oh these guys are just as normal as me i didn’t realize that.” Walking by Scotty Shuffler saying hi it’s just like “Oh these guys are normal.” So it’s that definitely helps a lot it’s great it’s great well good um you played actually you know Big 10 Championships 2022 at uh at the die course what What do you think of that what What do you think of the die i I remember the first round it was so nice no wind i was a freshman i was nervous the It’s It’s wide open but the fairways are kind of tight so you got to narrow your focus but I remember Adrian shot like 64 i was like “Holy crap he’s the best player in the world.” But then the final round the wind blew and I think 73 might have been the lowest score i shot 79 and like helped the team it was crazy but it it was awesome the the views are great it was sick so what do you found on social we just had a big gig up at our place did you see it at all i saw I mean I I didn’t get to watch it but I saw it all over Instagram i saw some of the the the big putts the drives the iron shots two two inches it was it looked awesome and it was nice to see of course I played before i knew what was going on um but it was a little bit different i was in some different spots on those holes with the wind and stuff but it was pretty pretty cool to see well we wish you the best of luck thank you so much for your time and uh I l I maybe French Lick Indiana our little corner of the world has big things waiting it’s where legends were made on the court and on the course walter Hagen Colin Montgomery Betsy RS and Mickey Wright it’s where life is lived to the fullest and where unexpected adventures are around every corner big things are waiting are you in visit frenchlick.com and start your escape here in Indiana all right hey welcome to the show and we got a very special guest today all the way from the pride and joy of Champagne Illinois University of Illinois golf head golf coach Mike Small buddy how you been man brendan you are always a good source of entertainment for me buddy i tell you what it’s good to talk to you but I tell you what since Johnny Palmer left the news station in the old Terote someone’s got to fill the airspace down in central Illinois i hope you’re doing well man you have a busy schedule you’re you’re all over the place you’ve been recruiting you’ve been hitting the portal how how’s the Illinois men’s golf team looking so far we’re doing okay you know we were young last year um still working on building the team obviously working with our players individually to get better uh they’re out playing summer events right now and uh I’m playing a little bit thisself myself this summer to to stay sharp but um everything’s good man as a coach you know you got to work with your guys throughout the year and then you got to trust them you got to trust what they’re going to do and uh and I do I trust my guys they’re getting better they’re working hard and next year is going to be a great year are you playing in the Illinois senior sections or are you in the Illinois Open what are you playing in um all the above I guess i played the Illinois Senior Open last week last Monday Tuesday i won so it was good how many How many How many is it that you’ve won so far oh I don’t even know man i don’t I’m guessing on the seniors it’s got to be close to nine it’s only It’s It’s only the last one that matters buddy it’s only the last one there you go um and then uh well those for those who don’t know Mike uh Mike is a very accomplished golfer he went to the University of Illinois uh graduated in what 88 Mike does that sound about right that’s right yes sir and then uh went on to the nationwide tour uh got a you know cup of coffee on the PGA tour and then played in numerous uh PJ of America events i think he won the the professional national championship three times and the last time last time being 2010 at the French Lake Resort hold on a second i’ll show you something really quick behind the scenes here in the B Sweeney office is a picture of Mike Small there you go bill Cook Mike Small Steve Ferguson and me hello 15 years ago baby some power brokers in that picture i tell you what now I got my camera all messed up all right cool um yeah so you’ve you’ve done quite quite a a great things on the PGA side but you in your in your full-time life right now as a head coach of the University Fight Ali men’s golf team this week in uh in Springfield at Panther Creek you have um three players former players two two current players wait one current player and two former players that are playing in this week’s event so with Jackson Buchanan uh who just graduated correct yep graduated less than two weeks ago and then uh yeah Luke Guthrie who is you know who was a three-time winner in Battle Battle uh Battlefield promoted Corn Fury Tour the PGA Tour and then Mr 59 as of last week um which has got to be huge they have two 59s but one of them Adrian uh ADC coming in and just now he’s just stomping some heads out there on the cornfair tour looking like very positive getting his his PGA card if he could if he could finish it what does that mean to you as a coach to see your current guys on the Cornferry tour knowing that you played on the Cornferry tour and what does that mean to them to you to see their accomplishments well I think they all know that I played um on the Cornferry tour back in the day like you said it was a Nike tour i won twice out there then got on the PJ tour um and like you said I played a season i played probably se I think I played over 70 events so I played more or less three seasons out there but never had the success that my guys are having which makes me happy and proud but they all know that I I played and still do play um and then those three names you mentioned obviously Lou Guthrie spent over four seasons ex as exempt member of the PJ tour and um Adrien Deontar played on the PJ tour last year and was the year before that was the Cornferry Tour player of the year in only half of a season after he graduated from Illinois so those guys are off and running they’re young and and had some success and then obviously Jackson Buchanan who just graduated a couple weeks ago is going to get his second start in Springfield this year played in the US Open for the second time a couple weeks ago so he’s um he’s just he has a budding career as well and it’s it’s fun for me as their coach to see them evolve and to grow and to and to have this as a career and follow the footsteps of guys like Thomas Peters and Thomas Dietri and Brian Campbell who have all won on the PJ tour Nick Hardy who’s won on the PJ tour all those guys have played at Illinois and uh and and the you know hopefully these guys are next in line well I tell you what you’ve you’ve had some great accomplishments here and this is I’m not trying to blow smoke up your butt but since you joined you joined in what 2008 at Illinois when was your first year 2000 2000 okay so NCAA championship appearances 2002 3 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 dude you’re all over the NCAA’s and the uh Big 10 championships one two three four i mean it’s You’re doing all right bro well I’ve had good Yeah you’ve had some great coaches too yeah I mean it’s been great it’s been a good run yeah I mean we’ve won the last 16 years we have 13 champion Big 10 championships and three runner-ups um but what’s cool is a stat last week Brendon since we’re on this topic last week there was some research done on the last 15 years of the NCAA finals the NCAA championships and we’ve been there to match play nine times as a team which is tied for the most I think all over but as individually um Illinois holds the record right now for the most tied for the most wins the most runner-ups the most thirds the most fifths the most tents and the most 20ths in the country over the last 15 years in the NCAA championship so again uh kids are getting you know they get better they grow but they’re flatout good players and good young men and and it makes me happy to see them continue this on the uh onto the tour how does that how does that approach I mean when you go out to find a new recruit um I know this is your heavy season now and if you look at the the landscape of college athletics as we know it as we knew it back in the day where you would have the time to develop a player you know from junior golf he commits to you as like a a sophomore in high school or a junior in high school and then you have time to mold them i mean those days are are pretty much cooked and are you are you shopping the portal are you shopping more international events are I mean how does the recruitment um paradigm come together well coaches of any sport especially golf just like anywhere else is trying to get the best players you can because your chances of success go up the better players you have right and now you have to get them better they have to be disciplined and develop and they have to be talented but um you know we’re always trying to find those guys so you’re always looking but you always have to settle at the when the season starts you sell settle with who with who you have and um and so that’s the fun part of the season is when the guys get on campus they all come together and you work for eight or nine months seeing how good you could be preparing for the national finals but this is the time of year where you have to build that team you’re you’re going out there you’re spending a lot of time and energy talking to a lot of young men when you only need one or two to join your team so you know a lot tell you no and a couple tell you yes and then you’re off and running this is the this is the time of the year where you put a lot of work in for not a lot of uh you know for the the chances are low um it’s just the way recruiting is but it’s part of the it’s part of the deal it’s part of the situation you have to do and part of the game and but it’s a necessary evil um re recruiting is definitely the lifeblood of college athletics now when you look at recruiting um you recently made some changes to your uh facilities your infrastructure at Illinois when you look at in Alabama Texas Texas A&M you know Florida they they you they have the weather but you made the investment in your facilities can you tell us a little bit about what the University of Illinois and what your program has changed over the years to recruit more players well our facilities evolve you know we need places to train and practice and to get better we need places um that shows a commitment to the recruits and to the kids that we want them to be great um the facilities have been awesome for a long time but yes we continue to add to the building continue to um grow um but our facilities are awesome and very few places in America Brendan you can play golf every day all year round i mean even the Southeast it may be warmer than it is in Illinois in the winter but still you get some bad weather you get some rain you get conditions well when you have a facility like ours you’re never even out of those days you can always practice and and train so um but we also travel a lot in the winter and go down and play tournaments all spring and starting in January and take practice trips and um you know it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s all part of the deal but our facilities are great that um they’re you know they’re set they’re set to where our guys can get better and it’s been you know it’s been proven that over the years brian Mike I mean how much how much pride do you take in the longevity of your success i mean Brendon read off their your CV it’s lengthy it could take up a lot of pages but that there are people who have success it’s kind of a flash in the pan and that’s still success none the same but yours is sustained over a quarter century of success at Illinois do you take pride the longer that success lasts more pride in it or is it just kind of hey this is what I signed up to do that’s No that’s a great question and people ask me all the time we’ve been to like I said we’ve been to nine had nine top five finishes but we have not won the national championship we’ve won a bunch of regionals I think second or third most ever we’ve won a bunch of Big 10’s you know down had a good run there but the national championship has evaded us for whatever reason we’ve won the stroke play portion the way they used to determine the national champion twice well now after you win that you got to go to match play so we haven’t yet won the match play and people ask me would you trade all those years and all those successes for one win for one national championship and I would not because I love being in the game i love being there every year i love the thrill of competing i love taking new teams and new players for that experience and um I’d ra I would rather have a lengthy 20 25 year career than I would just maybe one win and out and never being a contender again um now again if I’m on that side of the equation and I’ve won it I guess I could always say that um so I guess it’s it’s what you it’s what you hold what you have but my personality is is I want to be going back every year um in the mix of it um and not not disappearing for a few years and then come back again well Mike um we appreciate your time and if you look at some of the people that have gone through your program who’ve that you prepared you know you look at at the the the men that came through your program that you gave them four years but I think you really prepared all the gentlemen that have came through your program for the next 40 years of their life and as a dad and as a friend to you I I couldn’t be more proud of you and your program and what the University of Illinois has done for men’s golf congratulations on your success uh congratulations on your guys and congratulations on being a great dude and a great dad and a great husband uh thanks for being my pal and we’ll talk to you soon thanks brother i tell you what the respect is mutual man you know you always got a place in Champagne and a a friend here so uh keep up the good work and if I can ever help you always know to call me thanks man brent Sweeney joins me from Orlando as we recap the latest event on the Cornferry Tour schedule the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Witchah Open one of the best trophies on the Corn Fairy Tour the plane propeller which is really cool we’ve had a couple of really good events in a row with the BMW charity ProAm as well we finally get someone who shoots 59 or lower on the Corin Ferry Tour and wins that’s Miles Kraton he made a 59 the second of the week behind Adrien Dumont Chesart thanks to a chip in on the final hole in the third round that was exactly the difference between winning and losing because he beat Ailio Gonzalez by one shot to win on the Corin Ferry Tour yet again we have another first time winner of the Corin Fairy Tour and yet again we still do not have a repeat winner this season on the corner the Canadian Miles Kraton cranks out a 59 in the third round and Adrian ADC he shoots a 59 in in the what second or in the first round yeah opener yeah yeah how about Hey I’m sporting U ofI stuff today i got my uh proudly sponsored by the number 59 on the uh on the cornfairy tour so having two 59s being shot in the same tournament within a couple days that’s pretty rare but tell you what it just shows you how good these guys really are and what you have to do to finish the round i mean ADC goes 5970 and then what Miles goes 5968 and we were talking before offline about what’s the bounce back on a 59 and we’re guessing somewhere around 58 or 68 69 so it holds true right there yeah and interestingly enough I mean this is the obviously had two in a week so we’ve had two this year on the corner tour sub 60 rounds last year we had three two in the same tournament uh Chris Del Solar shot 57 in Chile and then Alra Povker shot 59 on the same course the next day neither of them won that tournament and doesn’t win you know Adrien doesn’t win after shooting a 59 as well too right he doesn’t win frankie Sappin the third shot a 58 at the Veritex Bank Championship at Texas Rangers Golf Club he didn’t win because Tim Beading won and he shot 31 under par to win that tournament so 59 crazy numbers these are stupid numbers for professional golf but it what it means is basically 59 doesn’t get you a whole lot i mean we were like you said we were talking about this offline before we started recording so now there are 15 sub 60 rounds on the Cornferry Tour the most of any tour on the planet they overtook the PGH war by one this week thanks to Miles Kraton’s 59 but the breakdown of the number of the percentages of players who win the tournament around the world any tour any major tour when you shoot sub 60 17 have 28 haven’t so shooting 59 or better is a nice accomplishment but it doesn’t really mean that you’re going to have the trophy at the end it it it just has to be an emotional drain on your on your psyche of oh my god I shot a 59 or when you’re trying to get to that 59 it’s like you’re in in a 59 watch all a sudden you hit it i mean what an emotional high that has to be but I’m sure the bounceback as we could see is eight to nine strokes different so yeah I mean I imagine you have to put pressure on yourself all right well you’ve proven you can do it now why can’t you do it every day why can’t it Why can’t I shoot 59 again today uh I mean you just it doesn’t you don’t typically get that close to I mean there are a couple of folks in history who shot 63 64 the next day but the vast majority are high 60s low 70s the following day so I mean that happened to Miles he shot 68 but that was good enough to win beat Ailio Gonzalez beat Pearson Cudi who now suddenly finds himself pretty much on the doorstep of getting back to the PGA Tour as well i tell you what and and now we’re starting to see I mean what we’re 13 weeks into it um or 13 tournaments into it uh and now we’re starting to see the the points really start to take place and you’re looking at winners that are outside of that top 20 right now you look at Bryson Nimmer who is who was a bright shining star had a great week he shot up and uh and now he’s looking at he’s what 22nd on the list so yeah yeah all these points are are starting to take shape and and you look at guys who aren’t really like pulling their own weight i mean shockers out there i’m looking at like Doc Redmond uh who had a little medical issue but now he’s got to start like playing hard i mean he’s in trouble even making a top 75 not even i mean making the top you know 100 to to get in and there’s a lot of guys that are starting to start scrapping for this stuff you’re going to start to see them as the second half kicks in i mean they’re playing in Springfield Illinois this week and it’s a bombers’s paradise out there as well it’s a it’s a it’s a relatively short course got great greens but I mean these guys go out there and they’ll shoot 20 25 under par and really make a difference and someone you know could come out of the group and like Kraton did i mean he came out had a hot day and and Bryson he had a hot day all these first time winners out there I mean you see them just shoot right off the points so yeah Kraton was 74th heading into the week now he’s 16th i mean that that’s kind of on the outer edges of being able to get in that top 20 stay in that top 20 you can’t feel safe really i think unless you’re in the top six or seven at this point probably feel like you got good good shot of the card and I’m not even sure that’s safe at this point i I think probably three top three are are feeling pretty good about themselves between Johnny Kefir and Hank Leota and SH Kim everybody else I I’m not certain they feel that they’ve got a PGA Tour card in hand otherwise it’s just going to get tougher but next year I mean look at the PGA Tour i mean you’re going from 125 to one to 100 so those 25 guys will be moving down as well so yeah these guys got to get their stuff together quick and uh and hopefully you know pull it over the line get their car to move on to the PGA Tour and some things have changed too on the the Cornfairy Tour side for next year as well they just announced these changes last week that if you finished in the top 75 points previously so basically if you got to the Corinth Fairy Tour Championship you had full status for next year now that is not the case you have to finish in the top 60 to get full status guaranteed for next year so even if you get to the end of the road even if you get to the end of the road at French Lick you’re not guaranteed to have a place to play every week next year either so it’s getting harder in pretty much every facet of being and we’re going to have to start thinking about those guys too because not everyone obviously is going to get a a PGA tour card and graduate from the Cornfair Tour they’re going to want a place to play that’s the number they’re going to have to shoot for now is 60 not getting to the tour championship well it’s just going to make the Cornfair Tour more stronger right but you look at the the Canadian tour and you look at the Latin American tour those are to become stronger as well but there’s only so many sponsors that go around i mean the the product is is strong but it’s big i mean there’s there’s so many different opportunities but you’re losing a lot of different spaces as well all right so let’s talk about this week’s event we’ve got the Memorial Health Championship at Panther Creek out in Springfield Illinois you were there last year for us jackson Buchanan’s in the field he was a sponsor exemption last year the U of I products going to be back this year a very accomplished player let’s talk about him real quick and then just kind of the the connection to U of I that this tournament has yeah he’s really a dynamite kid uh played in the US Open this year it’s just he’s shooting up the ranks on PGAU he’s going to be a star uh and he’s going to be uh he’s probably going to go right through Cornferryy and uh it just shows you what what kind of power and team teamwork that the University of Illinois has this is literally in their backyard um you know uh U of I’s got gosh Brian Hardy uh or Brian Campbell Nick Hardy Luke Guthy’s playing in this tournament um a U of I guy uh he’s got to get his act together as well um Jackson Buchanan um it’s it’s a really strong tournament for the Illinois program and and Mike Small will be out there he walks with his guys and these guys have a sponsor exemption or Jackson does a sponsor exemption this week in Springfield and there’s really a strong backing there so yeah we look forward to a big week with him we spoke to him last year at this event we can probably drop that interview in later and uh hopefully try to get Mike Small on the line this week too so this is the the first of seven remaining regular season events then we start to kind of whittle guys down a little bit getting into the the corner tour finals isn’t necessarily the biggest leap in the world i mean you had to have had a a a decent enough year to make a full field event and then after that the Simmons Bank open which is in in Tennessee then the cuto offs really start with the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship out in Columbus and then we’ve got a new penultimate event this year the third event now is the Compliance Solutions Championship out in Oklahoma at the Patriot Golf Club so we’re getting close to that time where if you haven’t been doing anything or you’ve been on the shelf because you’re injured or whatever if you’re going to make your hay you’ve got to do it really soon in the these next seven weeks basically it is and then you know when the playoffs kick in the points jump up as well they go from 500 to 600 points for the winner so any week anybody can make it and we’ve seen it already this week or this season so far so yeah we’re looking forward to a strong finish um this week in in Springfield Illinois and then moving on down the road from there so we’ll see what happens Ryan and look forward to talking to you soon thanks Brennon as always appreciate it that’ll do it for us this week on the Road to French Lake thanks so much for watching we appreciate it we’ll catch you after the next episode oh nope that’ll do it for us this week on the road to French Lick thank you so much for watching we appreciate it we are well more than halfway through the season now and the corner tour schedule continues this week in Springfield Illinois at the Panther Creek Country Club we’ll bring you an episode after that show as well keeping you up to date on everything happening on the Cornferry Tour for Brendan Sweeney I’m Ryan Bali for everyone of the French Lick Resort and at Golf Newset we’ll see you next time on the road to French Lick you’ve arrived at French Lit Resort here in Indiana two hotels you have to see to believe legendary golf by Pete Dye and Donald Ross our little corner of the world is like nowhere else your French lick getaway starts now at frenchlick.com
